“It s time to square up against my warpstone loving cousins and see if their Gutter Runners really do leave trails of fire behind them as they move.

Match Highlights:

First turn and Ber’anx is caught standing too close to the touchline and gets himself surfed by a giant frenzied rat ogre. The Toxo Gutter Runners feign left then go right; moving faster than the U-dog defence can track. Toxo Runner ‘Schmie Rigsch Nell’ shows off his ball handling skills by bouncing a pass off a team mates head and catching it again himself without breaking stride or slowing his pace towards scoring the game’s opening TD, these rats are clearly confident of an easy win over their lowly underworld brethren.

The U-dogs counter attack forming a loose box around the ballcarrier, clearly planning on using brute strength to punch through the skaven line. Rat Ogre ‘TobTvorBei’ charges the box breaking it open and exposing its soft U-dog ballcarrying interior, Fr’bloo manages to dodge away from the shrieking monster however Laz’pler is tripped by the beast’s lashing tail as he tries to faollow and falls, leaving one side of the box open to be attacked. Fearing the damage the Rat Ogre would do if allowed free access into the U-dog box the freashly recruited shaman blasts the hideous creation with bolts of lightning knocking it out and removing it as a threat for the rest of the drive. It falls to Toxo Blitzer ‘HackTzubRei’ to exploit the weakness in the U-dog defences, bringing down Fr’bloo and releasing the ball for Gutter Runner ‘WegwArer’ to pounce on. The match now descends into a rolling mall with neither team able to keep possession of the ball or move it out of the central pack of players as they trade blows between the teams, so the half ends 1-0 to ToxoPlasma.

Second half and the rat ogre is back on the field and looking very annoyed at being zapped. The U-dogs send their gobbo receivers through into the Toxo half – with 3 surviving the process of dodging around so many rats. Ber’anx gets his own back on the Toxo rat ogre for surfing him in the first half by putting the monster onto the apothecaries table, it will be back and probably more annoyed than ever but at least it is out of contention for this drive. The loss of the big guy has left a hole in the Toxo lines large enough for Laz’pler and a team of supporting U-dog players to dash through but with the cage collapsing around him Laz’pler has to resort to a passing play or risk getting pushed into the crowd. Devia-natses dodges down the touchline into the corner and receives a beautifully weighted pass from Fr’bloo to score.

At restart the Toxo Gutter Runner squad goes right, then swings back to the left, only to go right again, each time the Runner swap sides the U-dogs manage to throw a defensive line in the way keeping the ball near the half way line. With each change in direction the U-dog line get spread a little thinner and players start to get a few yards out of position which allows the Toxos to launch their attack. Ber’anx manages to block the Toxo ball carrier as he closes on the line only to see the ball fly up in the air and land neatly in the claws of another of the Toxo Runners who takes the ball over the line for the winning score.

A good game, hard fought and probably decided on the bounce of the ball after that final block by Ber’anx. So close to breaking the losing streak the sensation is bitter sweet – sweet for playing strongly, bitter for losing on such a narrow margin.
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